Macbeth Quotes with analysis

STUDY

PLAY

Terms in this set (...)

all is but toys: renown and grace is dead the wine of life is drawn

verbal irony, the hearers assume Macbeths lamentantion is cause by the death of the king; Macbeth actually speaks of his murdering of the king. in this passage, Macbeth expresses his guilt over what he has done, a guilt which he sheds as the play progresses and Macbeth orders the murders of banguo and mcduffs family

I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other

in an attempt to get psyched up for the murders of Duncan Macbeth concludes that he has no real reason to kill the king other than his own ambition to become king - this line also underpins the underlying gothic trop of overreaching and excess

out, damned spot! out, I say

spoken by lady Macbeth as she sleepwalks and is an outward manifestation of her inward guilt - "a little water clears us of this guilt" thus the contrast shows how lady Macbeths guilt in her role of duncan banquo and lady mcduffs death this is compared to Macbeth who loses all feeling of remorse "my soul is too much chargedWith blood of thine already"

is this a dagger I see before me come let me clutch thee, art thou but a dagger of the mind a false creation proceeding from the heat oppressed brain

it is clear that macbeth is insane, he sees a dagger in mid air that mocks him moments before killing the king - the dagger of the mind may symbolize the thrown itself. Macbeth sees it but cannot grasp it

witch " when shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain

the setting here creates the effect of the gothic with the weather reffering to what is to come, the prophecies - witches help present this as a gothic play even through this take it pre gothic

fair is foul and foul is fair

antithesis

brave Macbeth - brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution - valours minion, till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps

here Macbeth is presented as a brave hero, fighting for his king, continuous of the gothic genre

so foul and fair a day I have not seen

here Macbeth repeats what the witches say in the scene before . this clearly shows the connection between the two and foreboding Macbeths decent into moral transgression

what are these, so withered and so wild in their attire, that look like th inhabitants o'the earth and yet are on't

element of the sunpernatural - weird sisters

if you can look into seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not speak to me, who neither beg nor fear your favours nor your hate

banquo wants to know his fate , this shows that he and Macbeth have this in common - by comparing his destiny to a 'grain' it shows that his future is natural and 'grows' unlike Macbeths who forces his

and oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths win us with honest trifles to betray in deepest consequence

Macbeth is trying to decide whether or not these predictions are a good thing or a bad thing he seems to see it as a good thing as it is bringing him joy. this clearly shows that his ambition Is clouding his judgement and thus he believes that killings the king is a good thing . darkenss is a motif seen throughout the play representing the supernatural and our inner evil